was the inaugural year in an ongoing project dedicated to the observation of the sun every time it crossed the horizon and to sharing the awareness of that moment with others. Beginning on Monday evening December 31, 2007, at 4:59 PST, Brenda Hutchinson will ring a bell everyday at sunrise and sunset- indefinitely. Documentation for the first year follows. She invites others to join her wherever you may be and to post to the blog if you wish.

It was a race. Was the sun going down before we reached the security checkpoint in line, or not? Norman said it was the first time he wished the line would move more slowly, and I agreed. I was a little nervous about ringing bells while waiting in the line to go through security. There’s no argument about the timing for the bell ringing so if it’s inconvenient (i.e. approaching the part where you are required to remove your shoes) then we would have had to leave the line, ring the bells and return. There’s nothing suspicious about that kind of behavior.

Anyway, when the time came I turned to the people in line behind us and invited them to join us in observing the sunset (even though we couldn’t see it) by ringing some bells. They were a young couple from Dublin, Ireland and they were so sweet to ring the little bells with us. So there we were at 5:29 PM standing in the Delta Airline security line at JFK airport, jingling away.

It was fun to ring with strangers who so obviously enjoyed it, Thank you guys, and I hope you try more of this at home. This is a very good project for a Jr. High school Math class, by the way.

The day begins and ends about 15 minutes earlier here. New York is the first of several places in the next few weeks we can begin to track the effect of longitude on the length of the day and the timing of the sunrise and sunset. Any guesses? Next stop Frankfort. Then Barcelona. Then Tel Aviv. Predictions? Explanations?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

My row mate kept an eye on the sun and gave progress reports every once in a while. Our best guess for the time of the sunset was around 5:30. As it turned out, we were flying over Minnesota. My row mate was born there and he recognized it on the seatback map.

Today's flight was the first of about 1/2 dozen plane flights I plan to take over the next few weeks. By the end of the series of flights, my dream is to have everybody on the plane ringing bells at either sunrise or sunset. Have you ever tried to figure out the exact time and place at any given moment when you are in an airplane? Try it. It's easier to judge when the sun is going down than it is to tell the time. First we tried to take pictures out the window. Those photos captured a nice image of the wing of the plane, but you can't tell much about the position of the sun. So then I ran to the back of the plane where the flight attendants gather, hoping to get a shot from one of those little side windows. Big mistake. The attendants pounced on me, yelling "Get away from the window! You can't go near the window!"So then I ran back to our row because time had run out. We watched the map channel on the seat TV and rang our bells. The quiet ones. Some people noticed but in the end it was less of a celebration than a job neatly and efficiently done.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

We are looking at the new cowbell while I am ringing the old one. Doesn't this scene feel familiar? Looking at that cow face reminds me of that little cat from the other day who just sat there and didn't move either.

Monday, February 11, 2008

I can't multi-task. On the way home I stopped to pick up some dinner I had ordered. While I was sitting in my car waiting for my food to be ready, I was talking on the cell phone. While chatting away, I put my keys away in my purse, got out of the car, locked the door and started to cross the street before I realized I had left my purse on the car seat. My bag of bells was also on the seat.

Fortunately I had my wallet in my pocket so after I picked up my dinner and called AAA I decided to try to find a bell to ring. Just in case. It was nearing sundown and I had no idea how long it would take the AAA guy to come. Again, I was lucky enough to be parked in front of a hardware store so I went inside and asked if they had any bells. They didn't have much of a selection, but they did have a cowbell. With a picture of a cow on it.

This must have been my lucky day, because the AAA man came and got my car open in time for me to grab the camera and run to the corner. So that's the new cowbell ringing in the fog this evening.

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Brenda Hutchinson (with another bell)

photo by Liz Keim. Texas 2006

Got Bells?

Wouldn’t it be great to wake up and hear bells ringing all over the place? Big bells, little bells? Next door and way down the street? Something you could do with your friends or by yourself? Wherever you happened to be at the time. Everyday. Sun up and sun down.

Invitation

These are my little bells

I don’t really collect bells. But when I went around my house looking for them, I found them hanging all over the place. So, this is my bell supply, and I will make sure I have one of these with me wherever I go. Just in case.

something new in March

Beginning in March, I will only post to the blog every few days. However, I will still be ringing the bell everyday at sunrise and sunset and will post daily on my site at youtubeif you want to see more details.

Public Ringing Event #1- DONE!

Fat Tuesday, Februrary 5. We did it. Sunrise and sunset by the sea. Anyone else ring today? Where were you? Who came? What happened?Please share your story...

PUBLIC RINGING EVENT #2- DONE!

Nobody showed up in the morning in the parking lot at The Exploratorium.However, several people wandered by in the evening. It was kind of a staggered affair. After the sunset, we noticed a full moon rising in the west.

HAPPY SPRING!

Public Ringing Event #3- DONE!

A small but enthusiastic audience at the Fossil Fool stage joined in the sunset ringing at this year's Maker Faire on Saturday, May 3. Audience members volunteer to pedal power generating bicycles- otherwise there is no sound. That wasn't a problem this evening. The band was plenty loud.